The second item here purports to reveal the truth behind Olive Garden's claims that it sends its chefs to Italy to learn real Italian cooking. Unsubstantiated, obviously, but certainly seems believable.

You're stuck on an important video conference call with the Romulan ambassador, but you desperately need to go to the bathroom. What do you do? As usual, Riker has the solution. (Via)

The first trailer for Lars von Trier's Melancholia (which is slightly NSFW, due to brief, distant nudity). It's technically a sci-fi film, as there's an important plot element involving a mysterious planet suddenly appearing and heading for Earth, but it seems to be much more about relationships and people being really emotional. Looks intense.

I posted a ton of stuff to Twitter this morning, and some of it deserves to be double-posted here, like the trailer for Duncan Jones' Source Code and a couple of clips from The Troll Hunter. Troll Hunter just looks cool, because hey, trolls! The trailer for Source Code, however, is sadly not as exciting as I hoped it would be. The premise is vaguely intriguing (guy keeps reliving the same eight minutes, a la Groundhog's Day, in an attempt to discover who committed a crime), but the straightforward, matter-of-fact manner in which it's presented, and the typical love story that's tacked onto it, makes it a lot less interesting than it could be. But maybe I'm being too harsh. Anyway, I still want to see the movie.

An Aquaman movie is supposedly in the works. While I can understand why Hollywood would do this ("Another superhero, you say? Sure, throw him on the pile! There's always money in superheroes!"), I really don't see it working out very well. I mean, can anybody remember a good Aquaman story? Yeah, I thought so. I mean, what do you do with a hero who talks to fish? How can you do a serious, live-action movie about him?

I try to avoid posting Batman casting rumors because there are so many and they are so unreliable. But this one is irresistible: Tom Hardy could appear in The Dark Knight Rises as Dr. Hugo Strange. Hardy was amazing in Bronson, had a great role in Nolan's Inception (I didn't even realize until now that that was the same guy; that's how good an actor he is!), and is also set to star in the new Mad Max. He would be an excellent addition to the cast. Plus, Strange is a fascinating and rather obscure choice for villain.

If you ever enjoyed any classic 8-bit Nintendo games, you must play Super Mario Crossover. This is a slick, brilliant game that allows you to play the original Super Mario Bros. as any of a rather large group of classic video game characters, including Link, Samus Aran, Simon Belmont, Mega Man, or the dude from Contra. It's amazing how well the designer has integrated these characters and their abilities into this new setting, and how much it changes the game. (Via)

I have no choice but to enjoy this Threadless design entitled "There and Back Again," which envisions Tolkien's Middle Earth as a London Underground route map. I only wish I could get a larger version of the graphic so I could take a closer look at it. (Via)

The new trailer for The Last Airbender is pretty cool. Lots of impressive effects and action, and you get a better look at Appa. I'm still worried about the writing and the actors, though. There isn't a lot of dialog in here, but none of it is all that impressive, or delivered all that well. Still, I remain optimistic.

Man, now I'm even more excited for the noir episode of Fringe. Over at this link you'll find a fantastic, black and white, old school-style trailer for the episode, plus a more traditional preview.

Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

The trailer for Dinocroc vs. Supergator, above, is a thing of wonder. It looks like this movie will deliver everything you could want or expect from something called Dinocroc vs. Supergator. Namely, lots of chomping. (Via)

The first full-length trailer for Predators is here! And it's extremely exciting! My only complaint is that it seems to show too much. I mean, I'm pretty sure there are some spoilers in there revealing who lives and who dies. Not that I hadn't already assumed most of the characters would die. But still.

Enver Gjokaj, who played Victor on Dollhouse, has a new web series called Previously On Point Dume, the first episode of which will go up on Monday. The show is "a made-up soap opera about a community full of tawdry secrets, in which strange supernatural events are happening and the dead sometimes rise again." It's also campy; Gjokaj describes it as "Twin Peaks meets Clue." Awesome. (Via)

Michel Gondry and Ghost World scribe Daniel Clowes are teaming up for two projects: a time-travel drama starring Ellen Page, and Megalomania, "an animated film about a group of children who harness the power of hair to save the world from an evil dictatorship." Uh... okay. Megalomania features the voice talents of Seth Rogen, Steve Buscemi, and Juliette Lewis. Gondry is apparently a busy guy these days, as he's also writing "The Return of The Ice Kids, a film about a curious form of water that allows you to hear music upon drinking it." He is truly a strange fellow.

I was pretty excited when I heard that Mickey Rourke would play Conan's Dad in the new movie, but now it sounds like that's not to be. Thankfully, his replacement is as good or better: the mighty Ron Perlman!

David Fincher is in talks to direct Pawn Sacrifice, a movie about Bobby Fischer's life leading up to the legendary match against Boris Spassky. I've been disappointed by some of Fincher's recent work, and Fischer is just a complete nutcase anymore, but still, this could be interesting.

Man, I hate regular expressions. They're useful and powerful, but they're so confusing that I rarely take the time to try to figure out how to put one together that can help me. So this online tool for building them could really come in handy. (Via)

So, they're making a live-action Smurfs movie starring Neil Patrick Harris as... somebody, Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf, Katy Perry as Smurfette, and now Quentin Tarantino as Brainy Smurf. Umm... what? This is real? This is not a joke?

About
Welcome to the blog of Jim Genzano, writer, web developer, husband, father, and enjoyer of things like the internet, movies, music, games, and books. For a more detailed run-down of who I am and what goes on here, read this.